Aruba, August 15, 2016 - The visit of the Ukrainian authorities to Malaysia and Indonesia resulted in reaching agreements on trade liberalization and the establishment of business contacts – the important steps aimed to diversify markets under the conditions of hybrid war with Russia.

The format of the Ukrainian trade mission in the framework of the visit of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to Malaysia and Indonesia in early August has been updated – representatives of the Ukrainian business were also involved in talks. The Ukrainian officials have begun preparations for this negotiation process in advance, noting the great prospects of cooperation with the "Asian tigers" for domestic farmers, IT-sector, pharmaceutical and defense industries. Malaysia and Indonesia, which represent a new wave of "Asian Tigers" - countries showing strong economic growth - look as very promising markets, indeed. At the same time, the economy of Malaysia, a compact island nation with an area equal to half of the territory of Ukraine, has three times the size of our economy. Indonesia, being the most populous Muslim country and the world’s 14th biggest state, has the economy eight times the size of the economy Ukraine.

Geographical remoteness of Ukraine from these countries should not become an obstacle to the establishment of trade relations – that’s what Kyiv decided. The timeliness of the initiative is confirmed by statistics. Contrary to the general decline of Ukrainian exports in January-May 2016 by 11.5% (mainly due to the Russian trade war), the exports to Malaysia increased by 5.2% - up to $50 million. Even more showing is statistics for trade with Indonesia, reporting a boost by almost 500%, to $81 million. Given the difficult economic and geopolitical situation, Ukraine is stepping up trade mainly with the EU, due to the DCFTA but, because of the Kremlin-imposed transit restrictions on the Ukrainian transit through the territory of Russia, the country reduces its deliveries to Central Asia.